Started in the autumn of 2010 How to be a bloody good chap has become an outlet of all things for the discerning gentleman (or lady).
Laugh at the ribaldry of the copy and guffaw at the cringeworthiness of my lifestyle in this joyous paean to all things excellent!

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Friday, 6 January 2012

I broke my leg: The Confessor - Joe Walsh (1985)

I think that AllMusic can sometimes be
accused of being quite uncharitable, in fact, snobbish on some occasions. This
is especially true when it comes to the music of Joe Walsh, the brilliant
axe-man who penned such hits as 'Rocky Mountain Way', 'Life's been Good' and
wrote the grinding riff to The Eagle's 'Life in the Fastlane' (which he also
played). Whilst the Confessor is by no means Walsh's finer efforts it is not as
bad as the critics would have you believe.

The cover (a pastiche on Caspar David
Friedrich's 'Two men contemplating the moon') is laughably outdated and not a
good reflectionof Walsh's
idiosyncratic, driving rock tracks looking more like a sleeve from a Caravan
album. Whilst admittedly it is patchy and there are a few tunes that I am not
mad keen on 'Problems' or '15 Years' which are quite rightly regarded as dross,
I really like oft panned tunes like 'Broke my leg' (submerged in layers of
Walsh's trademark ARP synthesiser and vocoder)and the quirky lilt of 'Bubbles' (which could have been
lifted from the Dave Lee Roth EP Crazy from the Heat). The lyrics are really
not up to much but then again I have always listened to this artist for his
music rather than his word-smithery. The stand out cut is the title track, a
true power ballad straight from the golden age of the genre with building
synthesisers, great guitar licks and wistful vocals.

Whilst the Confessor is no way near the
heights of So What? and the sublime But Seriously…Folks?it is not a bad cut and as such should
be given the benefit of a good listen. I will award this one a 6/10, not quite good
enough for the premier league but a pleasant enough album in any case.

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